Forks
by Scents
Summary: In a future post-apocalyptic world, Bella has lived a sheltered life while the world around her was being destroyed. Forks has always been a safe-haven for many of those who live there, including Bella. But why is Forks so safe? What exists beyond Forks? Most importantly, who is the mysterious man locked up in The Council and why does Bella feel such a connection to him?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Life wasn't always like this. I remember a time when we humans were prosperous, the rulers of the earth. It's been a long time since then, so long I can barely remember.

I was 8 years old when the world began to end. At first, people thought that we were just facing an increased amount of natural disasters. Until news leaked about what was really happening.

I can't remember the exact details because I was young and it was so long ago, but what I do know is that it was humanity that destroyed the earth. Our constant battles and wars got too much for our planet to handle, creating a vast wasteland. We just got so greedy and it lead to our destruction.

First, one country discovered how to create a weapon that would replicate the destruction of a high range earthquake. In retaliation, another country created a weapon that when dropped into water, the molecules were replicated over and over until the area suffered a vast flood.

And so the competition of technology and destruction continued until millions had lost their lives. Countries were completely eradicated and most of the earth was rendered unliveable.

My family and I were living in Phoenix, Arizona when the wars first began. My father was a high ranked officer in the United States Army. This meant we moved towns frequently and my father was privy to a high level of government information. This information slowly turned my father paranoid. He had enough clearance to understand that there was something more to the natural disasters than we were being told, but not enough to know exactly what was going on. Charlie was constantly telling anoyone who would listen about the upcoming end of the world and how there was more to these "natural disasters" than we were being told. Everyone he told just nodded their head and looked at him as if he was crazy. My father soon lost all his friends and all his coworkers avoided working with him. They all thought he had lost his mind.

Eventually, my mother left my father for a minor league baseball player saying that she couldn't handle my father's constant preaching about their impending doom.

Renee leaving broke my father even further. He became obsessed with proving his theories and finding a way to save us and showing my mother that what he had been saying for months was the truth. His digging lead to him hearing rumours of a secret "safe town" that was being built by paranoid people, similar to my father, that would be protected if the world were ever to become uninhabitable.

My father seeked out Renee and her new boyfriend and pleaded with her to leave with us to this tiny town in north Washington State. My mother refused to leave Phoenix stating that Charlie was crazy and that she would never uproot her stable life on his hunch. This was not this first time he had insisted that the world would soon face the apocalypse.

We never heard from her again. Last we knew Phoenix had been flooded by an aqua bomb.

As it turned out Forks was a great place to live, even before it became protected. When we arrived I was stunned by its beauty. I had never seen so much green before, not to mention I was far less likely to feel the sun burn my pale skin because it rained almost constantly. The fact that I could now play outside without getting burnt was very important to my 8 year old self.

My father set us up in a pretty weatherboard house on the edge of town. My bedroom overlooked the forest and had a giant evergreen tree in front of the window. The house was much larger than our home in Phoenix and was completely self sufficient with an emergency generator, a huge storage room full of canned food, a massive cool room and freezer and a giant underground water store. I loved my school and I had great friends. I never wanted for anything. I liked it here and adhered to Dad's warnings to never go beyond the town's boundaries because what would I ever need beyond this town?

Living in Forks I was fairly sheltered from the destruction of the world around me. Even though my mother had abandoned us, I had a happy childhood in Forks and it wasn't until I was in my Junior year of high school that I realised that not all survivors of the apocalypse had been protected as we had been in Forks. It was then that I realised why our house had extra supplies and utilities than our house in Phoenix. Before now I had just thought they were luxuries my father had provided me to help me to enjoy our new home.

This was the year that everything changed for me. This was the year I became more aware. This was the year that I learnt that humans and animals were not the only creatures on this planet. This was the year I learnt why Forks was so special.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

"Bella, can you please grab me the plunger? The damn toilet is clogged again!"

I sighed and placed my book on the coffee table in front of me. It seemed like everything in this house was falling apart lately. Dad yelling at me for a plunger or some other tool had turned into a nearly daily event.

I grabbed the plunger from under the sink and slowly made my way up the stairs towards the only bathroom in the house that I shared with my father Charlie.

"Bella! Did you hear me? I need the plunger!"

"Coming!" I shouted back, really hoping that Dad would actually be wearing pants this time when I opened the door. Yesterday when the toilet failed to flush, I walked in with the plunger in my hand only to end up throwing it aimlessly into the bathroom when I found my dad standing over the toilet in his tighty-whiteys. Obviously he was too distracted trying to fix the toilet for the millionth time to spare his 17 year old daughter the sight of his overly hairy legs.

I opened the door cautiously and stepped inside once I found him fully clothed. Dad was muttering under his breath about everything falling apart and having to talk to The Council about the house disrepair but I paid him no attention, ever since I was little Charlie was a little crazy.

Once I had handed Dad the plunger I walked downstairs to start cooking dinner. Charlie was never a good cook so when we first moved to Forks when I was 8 I took over the chore. Dad never complained and in return I got a small amount of pocket money to spend when my best friend Angela and I went into town on the weekends.

I pulled back the curtains to let the light into the kitchen. I enjoyed watching the sun set while I was cooking. It was soothing and a great ritual to unwind after a long day.

I set the cooking materials on the bench that I had retrieved from the coolroom and food storeroom. I thought a nice lasagne made from the remnants of the beef that Dad had traded for would be easy to make and quick enough to give me time to do my homework after dinner.

I looked up to see how the sun was progressing in the sky. It was too early for the sun to set but I enjoyed watching the sky change colour. Twilight was my favourite time of the day. I drew my eyes down from the sky onto the street. I will shamefully admit that I was one of those annoying people that enjoyed people watching, I would often lose hours of my day just because I was sitting on a bench people watching a daydreaming. I squinted to look across the street to see what Mr. Johnson was doing, usually he was yelling at his son about how his lazy ass should get up and mow the lawn or some such chore. Instead I noticed a strange glow coming from outside and running all the way up the street. My curious nature forced me to peer over a bit more until my cheek was touching the glass of the window. As hard as I tried, I couldnt see where the pulsing blue light was coming from.

I'd never seen anything like it. While we had electricity in all our buildings, this light was something different. It seemed to be alive, pulsing like a heat beat and lighting up the whole street in a blue glow. I couldn't see the source from where I was standing so I ran to the front door so I could watch the light from the porch.

By now the light was brighter and gradually turning from blue to gold. The pulsing was faster and I noticed that my heart started to beat the same pulse.I started to feel a warm, content yet euphoric feeling washing over me, starting from my chest and working its way through my whole body until it seeped out of my toes and into the ground. I felt myself drawn into the light until I found myself unknowingly standing on the street. The light had no noticeable origin but instead was flowing around the street, around the houses until it reached the intersection of the next street over. I turned around and saw the same thing at the other end of the street. Where the street turned into a dead end, the light stoped. It seemed like whatever this light was, it was only happening on my street.

I kept watching, feeling content and safe in the knowledge I somehow had that the light was not harmful. I watched as the light pulsed faster and faster, brighter and brighter, until the light reached a brilliant gold and was suddenly gone.

I still felt the euphoric feeling for several moments after the light disappeared. It felt as if the light was still there even if I couldn't see it. The euphoric and content feelings receded but I began to notice that something was different. The air was somehow easier to breathe. I could pull it into my lungs without effort and it tasted fresh like the taste of air after a large thunderstorm.

I stood on the street and looked around to see if anything else looked different. I didn't know if my eyes were playing tricks on me but it seemed that the multiple cracks in the road that I had to step over on my way home from school this afternoon were gone. The grass on the neighbour's lawn somehow looked healthier and all the weeds that I had been considering pulling out of Mr. Johnson's garden across the road in the hope for some extra pocket money had disappeared.

Finally I turned around and looked at the house I shared with my father. I had absentmindedly noticed over the years how the house had fallen into disrepair. The shutters which were once blue were now faded and cracked, one of them having fallen off completely to lie on the empty garden bed below. The glossy white weatherboard had dulled and every other step leading up to porch was either cracked or completely eroded.

All this was now gone. The house looked the same as my childhood memories. Even the tree outside my window that I thought was dead had somehow sprouted leaves and had a nice circle of daisies now growing underneath.

I shook my head not believing my eyes. Maybe Charlie had been doing some repairs and I hadn't noticed. I didn't think I was that unobservant though. Maybe my eyes were still readjusting after the bright light I had just seen. Thinking this must be what had happened, I walked back inside distractedly to finish cooking dinner.

I kept pondering what had happened outside. I had never seen anything like that light in my life. It didn't even look artificial, it looked like it was meant to be there and had always been there. It looked like it was living and spreading its life throughout the street somehow. Can light even have a life?

I shook my head, this was just too much. Maybe I could ask Angela tomorrow at school if she had seen anything. She only lived two houses down from me.

"Bells?"

I turned around quickly, stunned. I hadn't even heard Dad come into the room. He was looking at me strangely as I put my hand on my now thumping heart.

"I asked you how your day was?" Dad asked, apparently for the second time. "Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath and tried to work out what was going on. Maybe I was going crazy. First I see a living blue light that I somehow think has healing powers, then I can't even pay attention to my surroundings to notice when someone is talking to me. Maybe craziness is genetic.

"Sorry, Dad. Just off in my own little world, you know me."

Dad chuckled, me over thinking things was not new for him. "Anything you want to talk about hun?"

I considered telling Dad about what I had seen. Would he think I was crazy? He seemed in a better mood than he was before when the toilet clogged so maybe he might be open to listen to me.

I looked up at Dad's face. He had a slight smile on his face and seemed brighter than he had in years.

"Dad?" I said cautiously watching him carefully for any crack in his good mood. "I need to tell you something. Promise you wont think I'm crazy?"

Dad smiled wider, "Honey, you can tell me anything. Something happen at school?"

I quickly told him about what I had seen. His expression slowly morphed from happy to dark and almost angry. By the time I got to the part where I was explaining the improvements to our house he was scowling at me.

Dad just stood there staring at me for several minutes. I thought maybe he was in some kind of shock. I mean I wouldn't blame him. I saw the light and I felt pretty shaken so I couldn't imagine what it would be like to hear about it.

"Have you been doing drugs, Bella?" Dad practically growled at me.

"Wh... What?... N... No!" I spluttered. That question seemed so left field I didn't even know how to answer.

"Making up stories for attention then?" Dad said angrily, "I know I'm not around much and that working for the town council takes up most of my time but making up farfetched stories about light with a 'life force' and 'healing powers' is damn near crazy."

"But Dad... I swear... I..."

"Go upstairs to your room." I had never seen my Dad so angry. He had never punished me in my life, usually he just sat me down and told me he wasn't impressed with me and how I needed to improve. "I don't want to see you until morning."

I just stood there, eyes wide with shock. What was even going on? Dad had always listened to me before. Even when my overactive imagination took me someplace crazy he would listen, pat me on the head and tell me I would make a great author some day.

"Now, Isabella!" Charlie shouted at me, face reddened.

I ran upstairs, locked my door and dived under my covers with fear. I couldn't believe how afraid of my father I was. At 17, I had never seen him act like that in my life. Usually he was sweet, sometimes reprimanding but overall loving.

Maybe something was going on at work. Charlie worked for the town council. It was The Council's job to keep the town running, distribute goods and generally make sure that the people were happy. Dad's primary job was to make sure that no one went across the town boundary into the wastelands but sometimes he was asked to do more. I had never thought to ask about his job before. I had just assumed it was like law enforcement that I had read about in books about the past.

I felt my stomach growl and thought about the lasagne I planned to make. Maybe I would be able to sneak down to the food storage room to get a snack once Dad was asleep.

I rolled over and picked up my book from my bedside table. It would be hours before Dad went to sleep so I may as well get comfortable.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I'm woken by the moonlight streaming into my window. I've fallen asleep reading my book and forgotten to close my curtains.

I roll over with a groan; I can hear nothing but the rumbles of my empty stomach. It was pizza day in the school cafeteria today and since I wouldn't touch that pile of grease with a ten foot pole, I haven't eaten since breakfast. I'm starving.

I look at the clock. 10pm. Charlie should be in bed by now or at least fallen asleep on the couch, homebrewed beer in hand, listening to his nightly radio programs.

I creep down the stairs, careful at first, making sure I don't make any noise that could wake Charlie, until I notice that even when I put my full weight on that third step from the top, the floorboards don't creak like they used to. Strange.

When I reach the bottom of the stairs I stick my head around the corner into the kitchen, ready to pull back in case I see Charlie. I step into the doorway to look at the remnants of what Charlie had obviously had for dinner once I see that the room is empty.

Though it doesn't look appetising, I take a spoonful and put it straight into my mouth. I moan at the taste. Even though the brown mush is slightly burnt, the scarce beef hits my empty stomach just right.

Knowing not to waste beef, I eat the whole pot. Who knows when we'll be able to trade the Newtons for a fat cow again. Mike told me just the other day that his father is having trouble getting feed for his herd as the grass on their property has suddenly stopped growing. Mr. Newton would have to trade with the Stanley's for their hay but the Stanley's were greedy and Mike wasn't sure if his Dad could afford to keep his large herd if he had to pay such high prices to feed them. Mike had said that the Stanley's wanted two of their fattest milking cows just for one cart of hay! Looks like we'll be eating our home grown vegetables and canned food for a while.

Shaking my head, I took the pot and spoon to the sink to rinse out. I'll wash them in the morning with the breakfast dishes but I don't want the sauce to cake onto the pot overnight.

I turned around to head back to my room. I wasn't tired anymore but maybe I could get some of my homework done so I wouldn't have to get up so early in the morning. I already had a long list of chores to do before school and I didn't want to add homework to that list.

As I passed the lounge room I could hear voices. Dad must have fallen asleep listening to the radio again. I snuck forward a little bit, planning to turn the radio off. Our little radio ran on precious, expensive batteries. Dad usually only allowed the radio to be on an hour a day unless he fell asleep and I would creep in and turn it off before I went to bed.

"...unscheduled but necessary, Sir. We couldn't wait too much longer or we would have lost the entire street. As it was we were cutting it close. Did you know that the Webber's at the end of the street could no longer even grow any of their own vegetables? They had to beg for food from their parishioners!" I heard though the radio static.

I stopped walking and put my back to the wall outside the living room so I could listen. I had never heard anything like this on the radio before. Usually Dad listened to trading news or sometimes a drama that the school had recorded. But talking about Angela's family? I had no idea they were struggling to grow food. Angela always had tickets to trade for food in the school cafeteria so it didn't seem like they were struggling. Cafeteria tickets weren't cheap, dad had to trade a whole case of his homebrew to get to tickets for this month.

After several seconds of silence, the voice on the radio crackled again, seeming a little worried. "I'm sorry we didn't get your approval Councillor, but this was the only time the elders could use the orb. You know how weak they are getting and how it's getting harder and harder for them each time."

Was this some kind of talk show? Who was the man talking to? What the hell is an orb?

"Anyone could have seen it Billy! My own daughter saw it! How are we going to explain to the town what it is if any of them start asking questions?" I heard my own father's voice exclaim. My father was on the radio? How? His voice sounded so clear and I'm sure I would have heard him leave the house if he had headed to the recording station.

Before I could ponder this anymore I heard the static voice of Billy again. Now that I'd heard his name, I recognised his voice immediately. He was my friend Jacob's dad, a lower ranking council member than my Dad and in charge of taxation in Forks. "Forgive me for asking, Sir. But... I'm not sure if I heard you right, your daughter saw it? How, she doesn't have Elder blood?... She wasn't even born on this land... It's impossible for the people to see, even most of those who were born in Forks can't see it. I don't understand why you're being so worried. You and I can't even see it." Billy sounded shocked, almost worried, pausing midsentence constantly, seemingly to try and gather his thoughts.

"Billy! Remember to use code! We have no idea who could be listening to this line. We need to speak about this in person but I can assure you that Bella saw it, she explained it perfectly. Exactly like the elders have described the light to be. I don't know how she saw it but if she did, I can assure you that she's probably not the only one. Maybe the Elders are getting too weak to hide their power. Maybe they're slipping." Dad paused and I looked into the living room, surprised to see him there talking into some hand held device with his head in his hands. "We can't talk about this on the radio anymore. It's not safe. This has to be a high priority for The Council, Billy. We need to know that we can protect Forks. I refuse to let our town turn into a wasteland. I've seen how radioactive poisoning can destroy entire populations of people and I refuse to let that happen to Forks. We need to know that we have the same protection that we had 10 years ago and how to fix it if the power is diminishing." Dad paused before adding. "Councillor, over and out."

Dad dropped the handheld device with a sigh. He looked weary and older than I had ever seen him. I didn't understand any of that conversation, but if Forks was at risk of falling into ruin like other havens we had learnt about in school, I can see why he would be stressed. We had all heard the story of the great Port Angeles fall, but the story had never told us why the town had been overcome by poisoning after 5 years of being protected. Could Port Angeles have been saved? What went wrong? Could the same thing happen to Forks?

I thought about approaching my Dad but decided against it. I didn't want him to know I had been eaves dropping after he had been so angry with me this afternoon. I wearily trudged upstairs instead. I would have to wait until tomorrow to hopefully get some answers; maybe Dad would talk to me about this in the morning. Hopefully some of my friends had answers, maybe Angela had seen the pulsing light?

I flopped down into the softness of my bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow hoping that tomorrow I would find the answers to my many questions.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I wake up when my alarm goes off at 5am with a groan. Even though I've been getting up at this time since we moved to Forks, rolling out of bed that early is never easy.

Once I've milked our two cows, fed the chickens and collected their eggs I head inside to make a quick breakfast. I want to make a nice breakfast for dad that will hopefully make up for last night... And make him more likely to answer my many questions.

Charlie enters the kitchen just as I'm setting the scrambled eggs on the table. That man always has impeccable timing.

I try to gage Charlie's mood while he eats his breakfast. He doesn't seem mad like he was last night but he doesn't really seem open to conversation either. Time to test the waters. I want answers and my dad seems to be the source. Despite what he said to me last night, he knows that I saw that light. And he definitely knows what it was.

"So, whatcha up to today Dad?" I say, trying to keep the tone light.

"Ahhh just the usual council business... You know how it is." he grumbled back. Obviously this was going to be like pulling teeth.

"Hey, dad?" I ask. Dad looks up at my inquiring tone. Obviously wondering what I'm up to, usually we just eat our breakfast in silence. Neither of us are really morning people.

He looks at me suspiciously, probably hoping I wasn't going to bring up our argument last night. "What's up Bells?"

"Well... You know I've been thinking lately that I never really asked you what it is you do at work. Maybe I could tag along with you one day to see if it's something I might like to do once I finish school? I finish school in just over a year you know. It's probably time to start thinking about what career path might follow. "

I look up from the table I had been starring at during my speech, trying to determine Charlie's mood. My dad was a man of few words so I've gotten quite good at deciphering his moods over the years.

Charlie looked visibly relieved, his shoulders relaxed and he had a slight smile on his face. "Sure thing baby girl, maybe tomorrow? I'm pretty busy today but I could show you everything tomorrow." He pauses to take a bite, "I think working in a quiet area of the council would suit you quite well. Maybe the library section? I could set you up with Mrs. Cope and she could show you our collection of books. She's quite proud of all the books that we managed to save."

This is where my whole plan could crumble. I needed to tread delicately here. "Oh but daddy, I was mostly interested in seeing what you do everyday" I say with a pout, trying not to over do it.

Charlie's forehead creases and I can see him trying to work out a way to appease me while also trying to keep me at a distance. This always seemed to happen when I asked dad something about himself. He gave me just enough information to keep me satisfied, but not enough for me to actually say that I knew him well. I had only really noticed lately.

"I guess you could follow me for a while. You would have to stay out of the classified areas though." He scratches his moustache, thinking. "You have to agree that I can take you to the library if I have a classified meeting." he looks at me, waiting for me to agree.

I smile at him and nod. Charlie had just given me way more information in that conversation alone than I had hoped for. I hadn't even known that there was classified information to hide in Forks, let alone classified areas. I knew that if my dad wasn't going to tell me anything, my best bet was to see where the secrets were held. I couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"Thanks daddy!" I say, pilling on the innocent act. " I'm heading to school now, I've gotta catch up with Angela before school to finish some last minute homework" I kiss him on the cheek, saying a quick goodbye and race to the front door, eager to tell Angela everything that had happened since I first saw that glowing blue light through my kitchen window. 

I wait on my bike, tapping my fingers anxiously on the handle bars while I wait for Angela's bike to appear around the corner. Its times like these I miss cars. Charlie still owns his but gas is so hard to come by these days that I've only ever ridden in it once when Mike Newton fell down the well when we were 8. It was such a struggle to get him out that they called all the able bodied men to come and help. Charlie said the car was only to be used for emergencies though he keeps it well maintained just in case. I could be talking to Angela right now if I had a car.

I sit down and start to do the homework that I neglected last night. Algebra and calculus are still taught in school though God knows why. It's not like anyone is ever going to become a rocket scientist ever again.

Distracted, my brain focused on a jumble of numbers, I startle when Angela plops down beside me on the bench.

"Hey Bella," Angela greets me with a side hug. She seems happier and brighter than normal. "What's up?"

I really struggle with what to say to Angela. Usually we're so open about everything, she's my best friend, but I'm not sure how to approach the subject of what happened last night without her thinking I'm crazy.

"Ange, have you ever noticed anything weird around Forks?" I say, ignoring her question and deciding to go for a direct approach on telling her what happened.

"You mean besides the fact that Forks is one of the only surviving towns on the planet?" Angela says jokingly.

Even though I had never thought of that as odd before, I guess I had just taken the fact that Forks had survived for granted, I nod and she looks at me puzzled.

"What do you mean exactly?" Angela pauses, looking up into the sky seemingly in deep thought, "I mean, I've always wondered why we were lucky enough to survive the bombs let alone the radiation poisoning and I've even done a small amount of research but I don't want to look too far into it. I'm happy here and I kind of don't even care how we are protected I'm just kind of glad we are."

This is one of the reasons I love Angela. She's such a calm, honest and peaceful person but at the same time very aware of the world around her. She knows what I'm thinking even when I've only given her a few words to go by.

"I saw something... strange last night." I pause trying the think of how to word this. "It was almost like a healing light. It pulsed all around me, all around the street and it healed everything it touched." I'd thought about all this when I was riding to school this morning. Everything in the street was somehow improved, better. It had to be the work of the light, there is no way The Council could make that many improvements to a whole street overnight.

Angela looks up at me, something akin to wonderment. "You saw God?"

I shake my head kindly, I should have thought about Angela automatically thinking it was God's work. Her father was the town paster after all. It wasn't that I didn't believe in God, I just somehow knew that God hadn't created this light. It had an almost human feel, warm and controlled but living at the same time.

"I don't think so Ange. It felt magical but at the same time human if that makes any sense at all." I look down at the table, I wish I had of filmed the light. At least then I wouldn't be struggling so much to describe what it was like. "It was this blue pulsing light that gradually built up to a gold brilliance but under that it felt humble and weak like it was struggling to keep its power. I felt it go through my body and it almost felt like it was acknowledging me, greeting me or something" I look up at Angela's face, hoping she understood.

"So you think it might be magic or something?" Ange said sceptically.

"I don't know, maybe." I weirdly hadn't thought of that, this is why I was so desperate to share what I saw with Angela; it was always useful to have two minds working out a problem together. "All I know is that I want to find out."

The next day, after tossing and turning all night, I roll out of bed and quickly get dressed. I'm really excited about today. Today I might finally get some answers about what I had seen.

I run down stairs and quickly do my chores. I'm finished so early that Dad isn't even out of bed yet so I begin to make breakfast.

I look up when I hear dad whistle through his teeth. "Wow Bells, what's the special occasion?"

I look around at what I've cooked for breakfast. Okay, maybe I've gone a bit overboard but I'm just a smidgen excited for today. I've cooked a mega breakfast of fried spam, poached eggs, pancakes made from the tiny amount of flour I found in the food storeroom left over from the wheat crop from last year and honey. Cooking always calmed me and I guess I needed a lot of calming today.

I just shrugged, plated Charlie's food for him and sat down with my own plate.

"So I called the school yesterday afternoon and said you wouldn't be in today." Charlie said in between bites. "I'm afraid there isn't anything very interesting going on at The Council today but I'm hoping i'll get to show you around a bit, give you an idea of what goes on."

Huh, I beg to differ about there not being anything interesting happening at The Council if the radio conversation I overheard the other night was any indication but I just give dad a small smile and nod. I'm trying not to seem too excited.

Once we finish breakfast we head out. The Council is only located a few streets away from our house so we decide to walk instead of riding our bikes or horses.

While we are walking, Charlie fills me in on some of the history about The Council. Some of it we have learnt at school during history but some things are new to me. Apparently, The Council members are mainly people who originally lived in the town of Forks. It's very rare that they let anyone who came here to escape the wars to get a job in the building, let alone in a position of power. Charlie said that he was lucky to get a job because of his expertise in the Army. "They needed someone who knew how to operate all that fancy Army equipment and I was their guy." He says. "In the early days it was important that we monitored what was going on out there. These days, there's nothing to monitor so I just make sure we have no unauthorised trips in or out of the Forks boundary."

The Council's job is also to protect the town of Forks and its farms. I ask Charlie cautiously how Forks is can stay safe when so many other towns fell but he quickly changes the topic and says it's an old Forks secret. Charlie knows more than he's letting on, I can tell. I'm just wondering why he's being so secretive. Usually Dad is very upfront and honest with me. This is the first time ever I've noticed him keeping something from me.

Charlie further explains that nobody is allowed in or out of the town. If residents are caught leaving they are not allowed back in, they are exiled forever. Dad stresses that they make a point never to kill anyone if they try to come or go but if it comes down to the safety of the town... I tried not to listen to that part.

This is more information than I have ever heard about our town. I guess Charlie believed me when I said I was considering a career at The Council and thought this was the kind of stuff I would need to know.

After walking for about 15 minutes, we finally come to the entrance of The Council. The building is placed right on the edge of town. If you squint through the small forest of trees surrounding the back of the building, you can see some of the brown wasteland that the rest of America has become. I try not to look at that through. The lack of life, trees and animals, screams of destruction and death.

The Council is surrounded by a high black fence and the entrance is heavily fortified with both guards and a security system. We were taught at school that this was one of the first buildings built when Forks first heard of the threat of the wars. The giant fence was built to keep out the masses of uncontrollable people infected by radiation poisoning who tried to get into the compound for help. For the first few months, all the residences of Forks lived in The Council building so that they could be protected from the infected. Eventually, the humans who were infected died and the town protection was extended so that people could live their own lives on farms or homes. The Council then, by default, became headquarters where you were only allowed inside with permission. Its funny how we are taught all this at school but we never question how we are protected or why this building is forbidden. All these unanswered questions have really started to pike my curiosity.

We walk up to security and the guy scrambles to let us through the gate. He extends a quick and nervous hello to my dad and my dad just replies with a stern nod. Weird.

This building is even bigger when up close. It's easily the biggest building in town with it being at least 8 stories and, Charlie also informs me, its numerous underground levels. I can see the gleam of solar panels on the roof and the massive water tanks on the ground. This place is fully self sufficient, built to withstand any conditions.

There are people everywhere. Everywhere I look, I see someone cleaning the building, maintaining infrastructure or tending the gardens. There has to be at least 20 people outside alone. As we pass, each person stops what they are doing and stutters a short hello to my dad and he always returns the same stern nod. Again, weird.

As soon as we've walked through the door we're stopped by an important looking man dressed in a suit and holding a folder full of paper. I've never seen anyone wear a suit before outside of the few movies that we have at home that I'm allowed to watch on special occasions. He looks stiff and uncomfortable standing next to my flannel dressed dad.

"Sir, I know you didn't want to be interrupted today," Suit man's gaze quickly shifts between me and my father. "But I have a pressing matter that needs your attention."

As soon as suit guy finishes speaking, a loud alarm starts sounding and a mechanical voice starts shouting "code red, code red" over and over.

"Marcus! This is something you have me paged for! Why haven't I been informed of this sooner! Who is it?" my father yells.

Suit guy, or Marcus I guess, cringes and seems to try and shrink himself into his suit not unlike a turtle that hides in its shell. "You said you didn't want to be summoned, sir, you said you didn't..."

"Quiet!" My father shouts, sending a quick glance in my direction. He takes a deep breath and I can see him trying to calm down. "Bella? There's something I need to see to." Dad shouts loudly over the alarm that's still blaring and shoots a quick glare at Marcus. "Promise me you'll go straight to the library. It's down this hallway, all the way then turn left, got it? Once you get to the end of that hallway you'll see a large sign on the right that says archives. Go in there, find Mrs. Cope and stay there! I'll meet you there once this nuisance has been dealt with and then hopefully I can show you something interesting."

"I can't come with you?" it's worth at try.

Dad looks at me and sighs. "This isn't very important, Bella. You'll get bored and I don't want your interest in The Council to be diminished because the first thing you see is me dealing with such a menial task." The pulsing vein in his forehead and the blaring alarm are telling me differently but I shrug and nod. There would be no point pushing him.

"Good girl." Dad says, gives me a pat on the head and then runs down the hallway, Marcus in tow.

I can't hear my own thoughts over the piercing sound of the alarm but I try and recall dad's directions anyway. Maybe if I do what my dad says, he'll be more likely to give me more information about this place.

I head down the hallway until I get to the end of the hallway. I see a T- intersection and cant for the life of me remember if dad said left or right, this alarm is seriously messing with my thought pattern. I look both ways. The left end looks kind of dark and long, it looks to be full of office rooms and towards the end I can see a big sign that's labelled as a gym. I'm sure that dad had said I would see a sign that said archives so I go right instead.

This corridor is very well lit and looks to be used for storage. Storage and archives seem to go hand in hand so I keep walking. After walking for several minutes, I start to wonder how long this corridor could be. It seems like I've walked from one end of the building to the other. I want to stop and ask for directions but I can't find anyone around.

I stop and consider turning around when I start to hear a sharp tapping sound coming from the door on my right. A person maybe? Maybe I could just open the door and ask where I am.

I get closer to the door and listen to the tapping. There seems to be a pattern but I can't work it out. It might be Morse code but that's no help to me because even though Charlie had tried to teach me when I was young, I never really had an interest in a type of communication I never thought I would use.

I feel around the door to try and find a handle or latch to open it but can't find anything. The door's surface is as smooth as the wall next to it and I probably would have mistaken it for part of the wall if it wasn't painted a bright red that stood out against the off-white walls.

I'm ready to give up and turn around, when the tapping becomes more insistent. It now almost sounds like someone is trying to ram their way through the door. I look around the door again, trying to find a way to open it when I find a small key pad. Tossing my hands up, I sigh in frustration. I guess I'll just have to turn around, there's no way I can guess what number combination opens the door.

I turn my back to the door and take a few steps away, grumbling to myself that it's just like me to get lost even when I'm given specific directions.

I'm almost five steps away, making my way back towards the intersection where I'm now sure I was meant to turn right, when I near a weak voice.

"number... knocks..." the voice whispers.

I run back to the door. "What?" I almost shout in return.

"knocks... number... keypad" it seems like it's a great effort for this voice to speak, each word gets fainter and fainter until I can barely decipher the last word.

I'm almost about to say that I don't understand when I hear the tapping again.

Oh! Knocks, number, keypad! The voice is giving me the code to get into the room!

I listen carefully and then enter the numbers into the keypad, not even considering the reason why the door had no way in except a 10 digit long password or what could be behind such a highly protected door.

The door swings open and I gasp. Lying in front of the door, fingers outstretched so they almost touch my toes, is the most beautiful, damaged man I have ever seen. His naked form is pale, dirty and skinny, he has bruises all over his torso and he looks like he hasn't had a shave in a few months. Looking beyond that though, his skin seems to glow a faint gold almost shimmering in the dim light, his brown almost ginger hair standing out against the gold making him oddly beautiful.

He opens his eyes and stares right at me, his brilliant green stare making me gasp again.

"I knew you would come." He says, right before he passes out at my feet.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I look around the room, trying to work out what this place could possibly be. The room is sparsely furnished. Across the room is a dirty yellow toilet and opposite that is a mess of stuffing and broken wood that once looks like it had been a bed before the mattress had fallen through the rotted base.

I step over the man's arm so I can see the rest of the room. I walk over the concrete floor cautiously, not sure what I'm going to find behind the door but I'm relieved just to see a simple wardrobe.

I kneel on the ground near the mans head. He's still emitting a soft, warm glow even though he's passed out. It makes me want to touch him to see if the glow is as warm and gentle as it looks.

I reach out my hand cautiously to touch the man's hair. Its bronze colour reflects the light, almost giving him a visible aura. My whole body jolts when I touch him. It's almost like static electricity, except it's not. I could almost say it's like those butterflies you get when you kiss your crush for the first time, or the intoxicating feeling you get when a hot guy pays you attention. But it's not any of those things.

It's hard to explain the feeling. It's like a warm surge of power running through my whole being and then flowing back into the mysterious man on the ground. It reminds me of the blue light I saw the other night as similar feelings of euphoria fills me. It makes me feel like I'm capable of taking on the world, radiation and all.

I pull back quickly when the man starts to stir. His eyes flicker and he begins to groan. I can tell he is struggling to wake.

"You... You still here?" the man rasps to me.

I nod in return, still stunned by this beautiful but broken man, before I remember his eyes are still closed so I murmur a yes.

The man on the floor smiles, even though I can tell it takes him great effort to do so. "Good" he says, "I'm glad you decided not to run."

He opens his eyes and tries to sit up. He struggles a bit before he can become upright and I know I should give him my hand to help him up but I'm beginning to worry about what all these strange glows and lights are doing to me. They give me a strange, scary feeling of addiction. As soon as I had taken my hand from the man's head I had missed the safe, powerful feeling immediately. Addiction can be dangerous and I want to understand what's going on before I let myself get sucked in any further.

I look down to see the man looking up into my eyes with a curious expression. He starts mumbling under his breath about colours and this really makes me hope that I haven't accidentally stumbled into the mental ward or something.

"You're Red... I've never seen a Red before." he says with something akin to wonder once he stops mumbling.

I shake my head, disappointed. It seems there's a reason this man was locked up all by himself, he's clearly crazy. I turn back around, towards the door. I don't really have an interest in talking to a crazy man, beautiful though he may be. I want to find out more about the strange light from the other night and I'm definitely not going to get information here. I bet this man couldn't even give me directions to the library.

"Wait!" he calls out before I can reach the door. The volume of his voice catches me off guard; it's no longer weak and feeble but strong and powerful, filled with desperation like if I leave something terrible will happen. I turn around. He's now standing, seemingly regaining his strength. Fast.

I look at him, puzzled. He's still clearly battered. His naked body is covered in bruises and I can see his ribs through his skin. How is this man standing when just before he struggled to sit?

"Could you just stay a while?" he pauses. "Please?"

The desperation in his face makes me pause and I frown, thinking. I can still hear the alarm blearing in the background, coming from somewhere in the distance now, only just loud enough to hear. I can stay here a while, I consider, Charlie is probably still dealing with whatever that alarm was blaring about. I bet this man doesn't get many people visiting, he's probably just lonely.

I look at him again and he can probably see my decision in my face because he smiles and waves me in a bit further into the room.

Once I step a bit closer, he closes the door. At first I panic, thinking that I'll now be stuck in this room with the crazy man before I notice that he's stuffed a small piece of flat wood in-between the latch and the door, preventing the door from latching. Clever for a crazy man.

I look at him again, he just keeps staring at me and It's starting to make me nervous. His nakedness isn't helping, I don't think I've even ever seen a male naked before.

"Do you... Perhaps have some... Pants or something?" I ask him tentatively. If I'm going to stay here, he's going to have to cover his junk because I wasn't going to be able to avoid looking at it much longer. My curiosity might get the better of me and I might be tempted to poke it or something to see what happens. I dunno, I'm weird like that.

He looks down at himself, seemingly surprised to see that he's not wearing any clothing. He turns around, walks to the small wardrobe and pulls out a few things. First come his pants, which he hastily puts on, seemingly embarrassed to discover that he's been naked this whole time. Then he pulls out two cushions and a large, thick book. The book he places on the collapsed bed but the cushions he brings closer to me.

"I've been saving this for you." he says before handing me a bright red pillow. It's really clean and surprisingly soft and this puzzles me for a moment because the cleanness and bright colour contrasts immensely with everything else inside this room. Actually, just being in this room makes me want to take a boiling hot shower and scrub myself raw until I feel clean again.

Puzzled about his statement, but deciding to just take a grain of salt with all this crazy, I try to work out what he wants me to do with the pillow. I look at the man and see him placing his dirty, dark yellow cushion on the ground and sitting on it. I follow his lead, quite grateful that I don't have to sit on the grimy concrete... or worse, that possibly vermin infested heap in the corner that is passing for a bed.

The man is still staring at me and it's starting to make me a little uncomfortable. As I stretch out my legs to get comfortable on the cushion I notice that he is now holding the big book that I saw him put on the broken bed. Strange. I hadn't seen him move to get it but I guess if he stretched a little he probably could have reached the book with his fingertips.

It didn't look like the man was going to start talking any time soon so it looked like I was going to have to get the ball rolling on this conversation so I could leave to find Charlie.

"So..." I said, struggling for a topic, "what's your name?"

The man frowns, he almost looks like he's disappointed, and like this is an answer I should already know.

"Edward" he mumbles, looking down at his dirty feet with a big grimace. "And you're Isabella." he states with no hesitation, still staring at his feet with seemingly intense concentration.

"Bella" I correct automatically before I realise that this strange man somehow just said my name without me introducing myself.

Edward looks up when I take a deep breath of realization. He looks me in the eyes and even though I know I should be scared, all I feel is comfort and a need to know more.

"How... How do you know my name?" I asked him, suspiciously. Maybe my dad visited this guy or something? Maybe he had overheard someone talking about me?

Edward looks down again and starts shaking his head. "I see we're going to have to start from scratch. I thought for sure with you being a Red you would..." He trails off when he looks up at my face. I can only imagine what he's seeing there. I'm trying to control my expressions so that he doesn't know that I think he's crazy, but seriously? What's with all the colour talk and the mad mumbling?

Okay, maybe we should just talk about the mundane and keep away from the personal.

"So, what is this place anyway?" I ask him, looking around the dirty room like it would give me clues that I'd missed before.

Edward doesn't answer so I look back over to him. I've always been exceptionally good at reading body language but this guy is hard to read. He's just sitting there frowning at me like he's trying to read my mind or something stupid.

"Okaaaaay" this guy is seriously loopy. I start to get off my cushion. I was going to stay for a while to talk, I've volunteered at the Forks nursing home before so I know how lonely secluded people could get but if this guy wasn't interested in talking I may as well try to retrace my steps back to the library. "I'll just leave you to it then."

I get up off my cushion and consider putting it back in the wardrobe but decide crazy guy can do that if he wants. I just want out of here. The warm, glowing, safe feeling I had been getting from Edward's glow before was clearing and I was starting to think that maybe I should have just walked away while he was unconscious.

I'm nearly at the door before the man shouts at me.

"Bella! Wait!"

Edward struggles to stand off his cushion and I debate over whether I should run out the door and slam it before he can say anything or if I should see what crazy thing he says next.

Turning around to face the man again, I decide he hasn't hurt me yet so I should just stay and listen to what he has to say. I look at him with a single eyebrow raised. He's still got that intense frown on his face like he's trying to stare through my skull and into my brain.

Edward sighs, "I'm sorry Bella, it's been years since I've talked like this, I'm a little out of practice."

I nod in acceptance; it was clear from when I first walked in that this man had had little human interaction.

"Your father will be finished soon so we have to make this quick" Edward states, taking a step towards me which leads me to take a corresponding step backwards. "You must come see me again Bella, there is a lot you don't know. A lot you need to know."

Edward runs his hand through his hair and I once again marvel at the colour and its apparent softness. I am distracted by the sparse light reflecting off his hair so I don't realize he is standing in front of me until he places his hand on my cheek.

The warm glow once again sweeps through my body and it makes me look into his green eyes. The power and honesty I see there astounds me.

"I know you feel it Bella. I know you've been seeing some strange things. I can explain it all to you but you must promise to come back." Edward is starting to look hurried and it is then that I realize that the alarm I could hear in the distance is gone.

"Head back down the corridor, walk all the way to the end and you will find the library. Stay there until Charlie comes and gets you. Tell him you love this place so much you want to do placement at the library. Mrs Cope will let you come see me and I can tell you what's going on." he pauses, it's then I start to hear footsteps and a low whining noise coming from another corridor close by. "You have to go Bella, but please, promise me."

I nod, somehow Edward doesn't seem so crazy anymore and his honesty and urgent tone are telling me that it is important that I come and see him again.

He opens the door, making sure to catch the thin piece of wood before it hits the ground. "When you come back, knock 5 times and I'll let you in" he says pushing me out the door. "I'm very glad you came Bella, even if you don't come back you gave me a way to get out of this room again." He holds up his piece of wood in explanation. "At least you've given me a chance to check on Alice."

I nod, not knowing what his talking about but believing he'll explain it when I return.

He closes the door, giving me a hopeful smile and wave.

It seems as if I've stumbled across the answers I came to this building for unintentionally. I just had to hope that what Edward was saying had some element of truth and not just the words of a lonely crazy man.


End file.
